Jaap Cramer (NL) – Für Eline

Jaap Cramer über sein piano piece „Für Eline“:

Being asked to write something for Beethoven made me think about the musical heritage he left us, all the works I heared in my childhood home, the sonata’s my father and I played. I realised how many of the tools Beethoven employed, are used by so many others, and how much I am indebted to him; it is like Beethoven is in our DNA. I like for example how he uses sequenses or a motoric motive with off-beat sforzandi, to name a few. This piece contains plenty of these. Contemplating heritage, the things we pass on, I thought of my two year old daugther Eline. And I hope she too will grow to appreciate the musical tools that are in this shared gene pool of musical history.

Jaap Cramer (*1984)

Jaap Cramer, born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, showed interest in music at an early age by playing the piano along side classical CDs. He began piano lessons at the age of five and started altering the piano pieces he learned. Not much later, he scribbled down his first compositions.At age eleven Jaap took his first composition lessons with Nico Ph. Hovius, who taught him the basics of harmony, counterpoint, form, orchestration, and solfege. Jaap studied the oboe and organ for two years and used his skills as an organist, playing for several different churches before beginning University studies.
In 2002 Jaap started to study Molecular Sciences at the University of Wageningen. It was during that period, all private musical studies stopped. However, despite having no professional guidance, Jaap continued to study music on his own, exploring more contemporary techniques.In 2004 Jaap discontinued his studies in Wageningen to focus on Theology. In February 2013 he received his Masters degree in Theology from the Theological University of the Reformed Churches, Kampen. Currently he works as a part-time minister in Heerde, combining his work in church with writing music.
Works have been performed in the Netherlands, USA and Greece, on festivals and in finals of composition contests. In 2014 the work Wanneer Hij komt (for triple choir, strings and organ) was premiered and awarded the first price in the ArsMusica competition contest.Several works have been published by Editions Musica Ferrum.